The Dickinson press., 1887-11-26
SAD SCENES IN A PICTURESQUE
BUT LONESOME COUNTRY.

Life of a Woman of the Working Glass.
Toiling in the Field-Work Blackcncd
Stumps of Fingers That Are Never
Idle.
The Irish woman of the peasant and work
ing classes is in every truth mistress of her
home. That home may be but a half clean
scratching on mother earth walled III With
stone and rooted with straw or scawced, but
there she is queen. She is the equal of her
husband, slaves with him, but is not his slave.
She keeps the money and does the ruling,
and unless her man drinks is US fully mistress
Of her home. her children, of her goings nnd
comings, rs any American wife alive. She is
not tidy. a long heritage of poverty, hard
work. and harder living on bare floors. with
multitudes of children, with no kindly teach
ings, nc gentry class of parish visitors and pa
irons to encourage tidiness, she docs not
know how to make the best of her second or
third hand clothes, Of her dirt floor, her black
porridge pot, Of her OWL sturdy person.
~ PERPETUAL ToILER.
Yet she is never idle. She tolls in the field.
She goes down to the Seashorc and cuts sea-
weed, for which privilege she must pay her
landlord ~ much added on to the rent. She
carries this home in a basket almost as big as
a barrel. She digs potatoes. binds up the
wheat, or oats, or hay, and piles turf to dry.
II their small farm is up in the mountains
she often descends to the valley and brings
up Observation-Disclosures loaGs-of earth to scat
ter over the thin, unfcrtilc soil on the rocks,
so thnt they may plant cahbages "r potatoes
upon them. She does this silently, cheer
fully, with her husband at her side. A dress
once i'll six OF seven yearsis all she will have
when She goes into town with her pig to the
fair, her load Of turf, or her firkin of butter.
Her work blackencd stumps of fingers are
never idle, for she knits, lnits, knits all the
while OH stockings and socks to sell at tho
shops, and so addbya six penny bit or a three
penny bit to the slender boarding of money
kept warm in her bosom for the rent.
II there is no turf on her little farm her
fuel must he bought from some bog owner
near or from the town. Often she will sell
the week's churning from the COW for six
pence or n%inepence. Clearly in her WI
person, putting to shame the shopwomen and
shopgirls in her nearest town, it is amazing
thai she still lives in all untidy home. She is
slpcrstitious, deeply religious, and lives,
that is to save enough money to send one of
Ata sSAoi6 JOuilS Spi1o VI UtiuSlltIS ol W
America. 1t has been said, md is probably
true, that in all Ireland there is not n poor
family such as these l have written of who
has not some one off In America who occa-
sionally helps them on by sending home a
little money.
PICTURESQUE BIT LONESOME.
Often i'll our lonesome walks through this
beautiful. picturesque, but lonesome country,
we SEQ old women following over folds where
the cattle feed, with big sacks on their backs,
picking up clods of manure, which they will
a home and dry for fuel. We travel miles
over this country, throughsmall humlcts and
villages and around small farms, where ann
lilies live in the conditions of this average
peasant woman. III the west of Ireland and
southwest the income Of a farmer and his
wife, on their little patchin' of land, will,
from all sources, not exceed ESQ, or $3.50 of our
money. The rent md the poor rates deducted
from this leaves but little indeed upon which
to clothc and feed eight or enc more human
beings. That they keep light hearted under
such struggles, and smile ut you if you smile
at them-that they struggle OH and even save
enough to send the 'bye" or the girl oT to
America is a miracle of patient thrift and
perseverance l shall never understand.
IL Chelr landlord or landlauy comes their
way 1t is painful To watch their behavior.
They do not begin at him or her about the
drain, or the sewer, or the well, OF the chin.
ney-for they have none Of these-Flo and ]
have walked through a settlement or village
Of matched cottages with not u single chin.
ney OH the whole thirty houscs-but they
draw up on one side and almost go down on
their knees. with bobbing and bowling, and
pulling their forelocks, God blessing he,
ladyship for nothings, and kissing her hand ii
they get a chance, humble, reverential and
polite. Did traditions make them do this
old traditions and new experiences2-Catha
rine Cole i'll New Orleans Picayunc.